This Alaskan Life

So lately I've been feeling completely and totally in love with this place I'm living. Probably because we had several weeks of record-setting, uninterrupted sunshine, which made me feel like life absolutely could not be any better. But the past week (or two?) have been nothing but cloudy, and I'm still loving it. I've been thinking for a while about adding some posts on here about what it's like living in Alaska, and I guess I might as well start before winter makes me grumpy again.

This is my kid running around like he doesn't have a care in the world. Love it.

When we were thinking about moving here, we were looking up the city on Google Maps, and we couldn't believe that there were LAKES, like, in the middle of the neighborhood. As in, "Oh yeah, we should just walk to the lake." In California, going to a lake was an EVENT, where you had to pack and drive, and get carsick, and even then usually the lake was gross and you couldn't actually swim in it, just look at it.

 So the proximity of numerous, beautiful lakes in which you can swim, fish, etc. is one of my favorite things about living here. We are fortunate that several family members have cabins on lakes that we can mooch off of and enjoy, and spend time together. Here's where we were yesterday, and a cute shot of my youngest snuggling with my grandma.

 

 What is it about the water that makes kids feel like they never want to leave? My kids are so in love with this little raft at our cabin - they can play on it for hours. And then yesterday my aunt and uncle had these little kayaks, and my kids were in them all. day. long. And I'm looking at them, kayaking around on this vast, beautiful lake, and I'm thinking, "This is childhood in Alaska." And also, our 4th of July weekend was 60 degrees and cloudy the entire time, which, to be honest, is also really representative of childhood in Alaska.

The little raft: Bringing hours of enjoyment to its third generation of kids

Love this shot of Parker on the kayak.

Alaska living is definitely not for everyone, but for us, right now, it suits us just fine.